LEXINGTON, Ky. – It may only be late January, but it is never too early to post some of the NCAA's top times, and that's exactly what the University of Florida track and field team did down the closing stretch of the Rod McCravy Memorial on Saturday (Jan. 23) afternoon.
Florida, the No. 1 and No. 6 teams, respectively, in the men's and women's preseason rankings, posted two NCAA-leading times, another five marks that ranked fifth or higher among Division I athletes, and added four new times or marks to the program's all-time indoor top 10 list.
Five Gators also notched collegiate personal records in events they'd previously competed in.
The men's and women's 4x400-meter relay teams each clocked the 2016 collegiate season's top time.
After taking the baton in third place for the men, freshman
Kunle Fasasi recorded an unofficial split of 46.9 seconds to put the Gator men back out in front.
Arman Hall ran the anchor leg, closing with just enough speed to put the finishing touches on a winning time of 3:05.57.
The women's race had far less drama, as the team of
Robin Reynolds,
Kyra Jefferson,
Taylor Sharpe, and
Claudia Francis topped their competition by seven seconds. The quartet's overall time of 3:30.51 ranked No. 3 on UF's all-time indoor top 10 and trumped the previous NCAA-leading time by nearly three seconds.
In a loaded men's 800 meters race,
Andres Arroyo took the individual title with this season's No. 2-ranked time in Division I (1:47.43).
Ryan Schnulle was not far behind, crossing fourth with the No. 5-ranked time in Division I (1:48.72).
UF's other top-five Division I times came from Francis in the women's 800 meters,
Skylar Ross-Ransom in the women's 60-meter hurdles, and
Shayla Sanders in the women's 60 meters.
ROD McCRAVY MEMORIAL MEET INFORMATION & RESULTS (all times Eastern)- Results (PDF)
- Results (FloTrack)
- Day One Recap
- Venue – Nutter Field House (Lexington, Ky.)
- Participating Teams: Baylor (No. 11 women), Clemson (No. 22 women), Georgia (No. 2 women; No. 6 men), Harvard, Houston (No. 25 men), Illinois, Kentucky (No. 8 women), Miami (Fla.) (No. 17 women), Missouri, Virginia (No. 18 men)
| Day Two – Saturday, January 23rd |
| Event | Place, Athlete -- Result |
| TJ (W) | 9. Ebony Luster – 11.99 meters (39-4) |
| SP (W) | 4. Lloydricia Cameron – 15.77 meters (51-9) | PR; No. 24 in Division I |
| PV (M) | 1. Harry Glasser – 5.00 meters (16-4.75) | PR |
| 3. Aaron Owens – 5.00 meters (16-4.75) | PR |
| Jared Watkins – NH |
| 60mH (W)* | T-3. Skylar Ross-Ransom – 8.29 | Earned at-large final berth |
| 10. Ryann McEnany – 8.55 | Missed final by 0.01 seconds |
| 60mH (M)* | 1. Yanick Hart – 7.90 | Automatically advanced to final; T-No. 14 in Division I |
| 12. Caleb Chambliss – 8.16 | PR |
| 14. Moriel Pitt – 8.31 |
| 16. Marques Burgman – 8.36 |
| 60m (W)* | 1. Shayla Sanders – 7.29 | Automatically advanced to final |
| 5. Robin Reynolds – 7.40 | Won Heat 1, automatically advanced to final |
| 60m (M)* | 5. Arman Hall – 6.69 | Earned at-large final berth |
| 7. Ryan Clark – 6.74 | Earned at-large final berth |
| 10. Antwan Wright – 6.81 | Missed final with three professionals by 0.02 sec. |
| 11. Michael Timpson Jr. – 6.82 | Missed final with three professionals by 0.03 sec. |
| 17. Damien Daniels – 6.92 |
| 21. Shayne Rodney – 6.99 |
| 60mH (W) | 2. Ross-Ransom – 8.18 | PR; T-No. 3 in Division I; Top SEC time; T-No. 9 in world |
| 60mH (M) | Hart – DNF |
| 60m (W) | 1. Sanders – 7.25 | No. 2 in Division I; Top SEC time; No. 6 in world |
| 4. Reynolds – 7.40 | T-No. 9 on UF All-Time Top 10; T-No. 20 in Division I |
| 60m (M) | 4. Hall – 6.63 | No. 8 on UF All-Time Top 10; T-No. 6 in Division I; No. 2 in SEC |
| 5. Clark – 6.71 | T-No. 21 in Division I; T-No. 8 in SEC |
| 400m (W) | 17. Shamaria Lovett – 57.64 |
| 20. Allison Richmond – 58.36 |
| 23. Mikayla Barber – 59.65 |
| 400m (M) | 4. Kunle Fasasi – 47.47 | No. 15 in Division I; No. 5 in SEC |
| 15. Gabriel Aird -- 49.92 |
| 800m (W) | 2. Claudia Francis – 2:05.04 | No. 4 in Division I; No. 2 in SEC; No. 9 in world |
| 21. Kylee Strausser – 2:21.14 |
| 800m (M) | 1. Andres Arroyo – 1:47.43 | No. 2 in Division I; No. 2 in SEC; No. 2 in world |
| 4. Ryan Schnulle – 1:48.72 | No. 5 in Division I; No. 4 in SEC; No. 5 in world |
| 4x400 (W) | 1. Reynolds, Kyra Jefferson, Taylor Sharpe, Francis – 3:30.51 | World-leading time |
| 13. Lovett, Barber, Strausser, Richmond – 3:54.66 |
| 4x400 (M) | 1. Najee Glass, Clark, Fasasi, Hall – 3:05.57 | NCAA-leading time |
| 4. TJ Holmes, Eric Futch, Nick Uruburu, Jabari Hill – 3:12.11 | T-No. 20 in Division I |
NOTES: Unless noted otherwise, all collegiate/world rankings are for the 2016 indoor season and based on results through Jan. 22 and Rod McCravy Memorial results through Jan. 23; * -- denotes preliminary round HEARING OUT (COACH) HOLLOWAYOn his overall impressions of the Gators' performance…"This was our opening meet, so the whole thing this weekend was about was just seeing where we were, and seeing what we need to work on. I saw that. I saw a lot of good things; we had a lot of great marks from a lot of good people. But I also saw some things I didn't like. We've got some people that kind of need to wake up and realize where they are. We are at the University of Florida. We are in the Southeastern Conference. This isn't high school anymore.
"Overall, I thought it was a great weekend. I was really pleased with both 4x400s, extremely pleased with
Arman Hall in the 60 meters—that was the first time he'd run it in his life.
"
Skylar Ross-Ransom has been here two years and really struggled with injuries, so to run a four-tenth (of a second) PR today was really big for her.
Claudia Francis, I thought she did a phenomenal job (in the 800 meters); that's the second-fastest time of her life to open up.
Shayla Sanders in the 60, thought she did a great job also. There were some good things in the field events, with KeAndre (Bates) last night … and there weren't big jumps in the vault today, but we had a couple of guys (Glasser and Owens) do well. And a big run by
Andres Arroyo.
"Now we just get back to Gainesville, rest up a little bit tonight and tomorrow, and get back to work on Monday in practice."
On the stacked field in the men's 800 meters and the benefits of seeing such competition this early in the year … "We didn't really talk about it, to be honest with you. I gave them a race plan. Andres executed it to perfection. Ryan (Schnulle) has been a little sick. But he is right where he usually is. He'll get a little bit better next week, and a little bit better after that.
"We really don't talk about who we're running against. We just set forth a race plan, go out and execute it, and, hopefully, it works out for us."
On what the focus will be moving forward this week … "There's two things we have to get done: better focus, more intensity. We were just a little bit lackadaisical in some areas. There has to be a little more seriousness to the craft. We just kind of lost our focus in areas this weekend. And that's on me. I'm the head coach. It's my job. I'm going to check myself before I check anyone else on that."
NEXT STOP…The Gators will return home and gear up for the Razorback Invitational, which will be held on Jan. 29-30 in Fayetteville, Ark. Television coverage will be provided for the second day of competition. Continue to check FloridaGators.com for more details.
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